The Negative Effects of Social Networking on Individuals

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“Is it Facebook official?” Most individuals know exactly what this question means and have more than likely asked it at some point. Essentially, asking someone, “Is it Facebook official?” is equivalent to confirming the relationship status of two individuals. In today’s society, if people do not “tweet” about the situation at hand or post a picture, then they feel a sense of loss in keeping up with their social media persona. When you go to a restaurant, take the time to look around. What do you see? Phones. People posting their lunch on Instagram, taking pictures with friends, texting, talking while scrolling through their phone, or worst of all, sitting with friends in silence while maintaining their social networking sites or texting. Personal interaction is becoming extinct while social media is essentially unstoppable. Obviously, some aspects of social media are positive, but at what point does society draw the line? The effects of maintaining a social media presence are generally negative amongst in comparison to personal interaction.
Social networking is essentially an interaction between people via Internet—the new language of the world today. According to Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffiths, authors of Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of the Psychological Literature, “The first social networking site SixDegrees was launched in 1997; however, in 2004, the most successful current social networking site, Facebook, was established as a closed virtual community for Harvard students, (Kuss, 1). Facebook is now the largest social networking site on the Internet today. Kuss and Griffiths state, “Facebook has more than 500 million users, whom fifty percent log on to it every day. From 2007 to 2008, Facebook increa...

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... media takes the drivers eye off the road for longer than sending a text message is freighting. People already have enough distractions while driving such as turning the radio station, having people in seats all around, and even watching the cars in the area. The last thing people need to be doing is looking at the latest updates on their social networking sites. None of the sites are worth looking at if they could possibly take someone’s life away.
The dangers of social networking can range from minor to major, but the dangers are not the only concerning factor. Social networking is quickly replacing personal interaction. Next time the urge to upload a picture to Instagram, post a status to Facebook, or even “subtweet” the girl wearing hideous boots, do not become a social media robot. Learn to live without the phone attached at the hip things will be a lot better.

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